The great, swirling fire of separation
hath consumed me.
Now, the powder that remains,
O God,
I beg of Thee, transmute it
into the golden Light of the Phoenix,
the transcendent miracle of Life,
the liberation of the Skies,
and thereby reunite me
with Thyself,
that I may know no more
this impossible anguish,
taxing as it is
upon my powers and my praise
of Thine impenetrable Being.
Change me from ash to resurrected,
flight-bound Bird,
no more prone to descent
into the mesh of nether soils,
nor the trappings of such weak and
lowly flesh:
O God,
O my lofty mountain's Peak,
O my Nest in the Heavens and the Stars,
make safe my passage
from this, such flash and swirl of oblivion,
into everlasting Life
with Thee, of Thine.
09/03/2016
en route to Addis Abeba